You bought a new computer, and you need to get your iTunes music over to the new PC. Here’s are the easiest methods you can use to start enjoying your music on the new computer.

Method 1: Flash or External Drive

You can use a thumb drive or external drive to get your data over to the new location. If you have a large amount of music, you may need a large drive. You can find out how large your music library is in iTunes by clicking Library on the left pane and viewing it at the bottom of the screen.

In this case, I only have 178.2MB of music. So I won’t need a very large drive. I can simply copy the iTunes folder located at:

Windows XP/2000 : C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music
Windows 7/Vista: C:\Users\username\Music

Copy the iTunes folder to the external drive. Then plug the external drive into the new computer and copy the iTunes folder to one of the above locations. Be sure you use the correct location depending on the OS you are using. If you’re going from Windows XP to Windows 7 or Vista, you would copy the files from C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music to the new location: C:\Users\username\Music.

This method will copy all of your music, playlists and preferences over to the new computer.

Method 2: Using the iTunes Backup Function

If you don’t have an external drive, you can use DVD’s. Of course it is likely that your iTunes library will not fit on one DVD. Don’t worry about that, iTunes will back it up and spread it across several discs.

1. In iTunes, Select File > Library > Back Up to Disc…

2. Choose whether you just want to backup iTunes Store purchases or the entire library and playlists. Place a disc in the drive and click Back Up when ready.

3. Go through the steps as prompted to complete the backup.

4. Take the discs that iTunes backed your music to over to the new computer. Launch iTunes and insert the first disc that was used in the backup process. iTunes will prompt you to Restore.

I hope you find this tutorial useful. These are the 2 easiest options for getting your iTunes music to a new computer. You could copy the files over a network if both computers are connected, but it takes forever and there is a lot of configuration involved. Stick to one of these 2 options to keep yourself from tearing your hair out.